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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23066530">Nevertheless</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayo_San/pseuds/Kayo_San'>Kayo_San</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Beginning and Ending [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Money Game (Korea TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Prequel, Slow Build</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:02:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23066530</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayo_San/pseuds/Kayo_San</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nevertheless. </p><p>Their mutual chemistry is undeniable; they get on like a house on fire.<br/>But no one wants their house to burn.</p><p>A story where Heo Jae unexpectedly ends up helping to mend the Chae family and falls in love with Yi Heon, not necessarily in that order.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Heo Jae/Chae Yi Heon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Beginning and Ending [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nevertheless</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineJ/gifts">SerpentineJ</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyxenax/gifts">ladyxenax</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>What's this called? Perhaps rationalising a future where Heo Jae goes casually hiking with Chae Byung Hak and they sit down on the rock and discuss their economic policies passionately. Only, it's far from their first time and Heo Jae will never end up killing Yi Heon's father. </p><p>How can he when he's blessed their union?</p><p>Nevertheless, nevertheless, for this journey, thanks again, SerpentineJ. Last of three, still gifted to you and also to ladyxenax who has been with us all this while.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Heo Jae meets Chae Yi Heon is while working. When they had both been in the Ministry of Finance, Yi Heon as one of the few direct Level 5 recruits when he had only just made his way up to a Level 3 director of the IFB. And that emotion called curiosity that never got the better of him, even when the departments went out for drinks at night.</p><p>A good student, a great many alumnus connections, particularly close to the FSC’s Han Sang Min, diligent worker, but fascinating ideas. The things he heard and learnt about – out of casual interest.</p><p>Heo Jae overhead Yi Heon’s direct seniors in the pantry while he was taking a tea break, particularly Jo Hee Bong who worked twenty years to get to the same Level 5 rank. “He can’t keep his head down. If we’re a field of grass, he’s the rogue strand who will be cut down if he’s not careful.”</p><p>A line without malicious intent, only realism of working in a bureaucracy. Once in awhile, Heo Jae feels the same twinge of desire, perhaps to make the world a better place, the same flame burning so bright in his junior.</p><p>That’s 1996, Jae is 43 and Yi Heon is 26.</p><p>By one year after that time the IMF crisis has come and gone; the Minister of the Economy has called them dogs to hell and back; equity funds including Bahama have already wrecked the country once and his desire is smouldering.</p><p>Embers, dying for a want of oxygen. Heo Jae hasn’t broken, but he’s very close to it.</p><p>Life slides back to normalcy with all the bureaucrats forgetting the rotten foundations that the country’s economy is still standing on and the Level 3 is sick and tired of the mentality of pretending everything is okay. The Ministry is renamed to become the Ministry of Strategy and Finance or something like that.</p><p>He has no power, so he stays silent, keeps his head down and does as his Minister bids him. The one to be cut down to size in the aftermath is not him, because he was too short. A mere Director is not enough for the adoring public. A media circus.</p><p>He fell short of whatever was possible so he was safe – a prospect of underachievement and a mild demeanour kept him safe.</p><p>The rumours are rolling about their office, everything is almost normal. Only that his ears catch hold of the story, Chae Yi Heon’s wind whirl of a wedding and divorce.</p><p>Most people are shocked, very few are sympathetic. Many are scornful of the expenditure during such trying times. Only the rumour mill works its magic. Perhaps it was Han Sang Min from the FSC who defended his friend.</p><p>Either way, Yi Heon is much less of catch for the office ladies, as few as they may be. Someone said that being single and divorced was not bad – one of the Level 7s only commented that the speed was concerning. “What, did he think marriage was a game?”</p><p>Tactlessly, it’s a hot topic at the next late-night dinner for his team. He brings them out for a meal on his monthly wages. In between his people offering him toasts and discussing economics at length, Yi Heon’s name keeps popping up.</p><p>Or maybe, it’s the only name Heo Jae can hear.</p><p>To be honest with himself, he’s not sure why he’s like this. Was it the enthusiastic and bashful way the younger male introduced himself on the first day? Was it the crow's feet by his eyes as he smiled? Was it knowing that if no one else in the entire building would understand his feeling of being trapped and limited by a bureaucracy committed to ignorance, there would be this one junior of his?</p><p>-</p><p>In contrast, Yi Heon doesn’t spend the months after they first meet agonising over what his senior thinks of him.</p><p>After all, Director Heo is only one of the many, many people older than him passing judgement with their careless eyes. He can’t care about every single one of them, least of all some director of another department. His own director gives him enough work to last a decade.</p><p>Life is not what he thought working would be like – Father was right and Father was wrong.</p><p>He really hates that; he’s just grateful no one here knows who his father is, other than Sang Min, and Sang Min won’t spill.</p><p>Because Father wanted it, he studied economics only to be buried in his shadow. The sheer weight of his progenitor’s economic beliefs on the broken free-market system makes him recoil in horror. They disagree on many things, but on how to work the economy they will never be able to reconcile.</p><p>Half of whatever Father does is to make him miserable, half of what he does too, is to make Father feel some of that same misery.</p><p>So he tells him that he’ll get married, as long as Father can pick a lady who doesn’t mind the fact that he’s a civil servant quashed by the great Professor’s shadow.</p><p>For his own sake, he ruins the marriage that was doomed to fail from the start. The young lady picked from a group of heiresses so that Father could be assured she wasn’t marrying him for economic reasons could never have matched his temperament.</p><p>He cannot be polite all the time, nor composed. Nevertheless, they expect that of him. He cracks in a month under the weight of the pretence.</p><p>In the middle of a country-wide recession, the lady heiress began divorce proceedings. Without allowing his Father to intercede, he signed the papers and asked nothing.</p><p>It was a simple enough a split, but only too juicy for the gossip mill at work to start yammering.</p><p>Sang Min tries very hard, as always to protect him, because he’s always sucked at this social situation things – he hates having to be leashed, to have to please people.</p><p>He’s tired without even starting, and he fights very hard. They call him the rapidly growing weed and his economic theories of market intervention are not treated kindly. Every other person inevitably cites or quotes Professor Chae Byung Hak.</p><p>Chae Yi Heon is boiling inside to bubble over and rail against his father’s economic systems in public. The IMF Crisis only confirmed to him that the internal hypothesis that Professor Chae would ruin the Korean economy was true.</p><p>He doesn’t.</p><p>Calmly, tamping down on his fury, disgust and helplessness, he does his work diligently. He’s a good worker, great with reports and research, speedy and on task. The director would recommend him for a promotion if only and only if he were less vocal about his concerns with regards to the free-market style of managing the economy.</p><p>Laissez-faire attitudes toward life have never worked – how could a government even dream of functioning without taxes? Yi Heon believes firmly that some, and more control is necessary.</p><p>The free-market economy cannot work for Korea with its inbuilt inefficiencies, be it the economists fat on the alms of the chaebol or the chaebol fat on the blood of the people.</p><p>-</p><p>It doesn’t cross Heo Jae’s mind that he’s infatuated until the Level 5 knocks on his office door. How this transpired is a simple enough sequence of events.</p><p>As the director the IFB, he needed a broad overview of the governmental policy on future trading prospects and it was tedious to go to everyone from the FSC to the Economic Policy Bureau to firm up the IFB’s decision. Not to mention he knew pretty much everything he needed to know that the IFB’s routine checks were not off their mark.</p><p>So he called the Policy Coordination Bureau and asked them to send up a copy of their latest internal report. It’s a courtesy that comes from years of working with the same people on the same level as you – the documents go free and easy as long as you ask.</p><p>But the PCB director has a smile in his voice when he tells him over the phone that, “I’ll send Chae Yi Heon with it. I feel like you two would get along.”</p><p>Back to the present, Heo Jae realises that he’s actually smitten when the cautious and slightly awkward younger male enters his office and greets him politely.</p><p>He stands and gestures for Yi Heon to take a seat at the small long table. “So you are Chae-samuguan,” and relishes in how the Level 5 blinks before bowing and replying a soft “Yes…”</p><p>Neither of them is particularly young. Nevertheless, Heo Jae has never had the habit of lying to himself.</p><p>He allows a smile to curve onto his face. “Your director told me that you were a smart one. Please, brief me.”</p><p>There’s a flicker of pride and embarrassment in those large eyes, though the movement of the hands to open the briefing cases is practised.</p><p>His voice is clear and crisp, the slightest inflexion as he goes over the government’s response to the pressure of global interest rates rising. Or, namely, it’s lack of a reaction in the face of the rapid flow of hot money.</p><p>Heo Jae hums and he likes that Yi Heon knows to stop when he does so.</p><p>“As you know, we at the IFB are tasked with dealing with the inevitable balance of payments deficit due to the outflow. Why don’t you tell me what are your thoughts?”</p><p>His heart skips like Yi Heon trips in his reply, the tentative look in the younger male’s eyes when they look at each other in the half-shade of the office.</p><p>A question asking something like, “Are you sure? Can I actually say my opinion out loud?”</p><p>Before he can control himself, though whether or not he wants to is debatable, he’s placed a hand over Yi Heon’s, smiling again, “Go ahead.”</p><p>Their palms are similar in size. The gentle warmth between them is enough to thaw the Level 5’s hesitant shell.</p><p>Yi Heon talks like he’s possessed, complaining and railing against the government’s general stance of non-interference.</p><p>And Heo Jae can feel suddenly the thudding of their pulses in his hand – his heart is racing to hear the words that he has himself always wanted to say. He wants to look at their two hands together, but Yi Heon’s eyes have him in thrall.</p><p>Inevitably, the PCB officer soon runs out of steam, their main gripe is just one main one, and he cuts himself off before he can begin to turn in circles.</p><p>At that point, their gaze flicks towards their hand. Heo Jae doesn’t move his hand, allowing it to rest the weight of his support on Yi Heon’s.</p><p>And he feels the edge of his lip curl upwards as a red flush creeps up the Level 5’s neck, suffusing his cheeks with a dull blush.</p><p>A teasing statement is on the tip of Heo Jae’s tongue but he bites it back, not wanting to ruin the image in from of him. How much he wants to burn the portrait of them into his mind.</p><p>His palm is getting sweaty from his own anxiousness, so he moves to pat Yi Heon’s hand twice before threading his fingers into a more neutral position.</p><p>Anyone else would have said that he was delusional, but Yi Heon’s hand returns to his side almost reluctantly.</p><p>“I agree with you,” he says simply, and he decides that he likes the flicker of hope in the younger male’s eyes.</p><p>-</p><p>When his own PCB director drops by his table later in the evening, Yi Heon is still not fully present. The older male gently bops him on the shoulder with a sheaf of paper, pleased and incredibly amused. “Chae-samuguan, so I have you thank for handling Heo-gukjang this afternoon.”</p><p>And Yi Heon is mortified to find his ears warming. Partially it’s being caught dozing at his work station when there’s a work document open on his bulky PC waiting for review. Another is the reminder of his pleasant afternoon.</p><p>“Not at all, gukjangnim, I was really honoured by the opportunity,” his actual emotions for once on display and his university senior only chuckles.</p><p>“My dear junior, it’s written all over your face. But still, it’s good to hear such pandering words from you once in a while. That’s hard to come by, huh.”</p><p>Before he can apologise or deflect some of that edged criticism, the director only pats him on the shoulder, going back towards his own office. His hand over his shoulder in a jaunty wave of a goodbye, “I suppose that if the IFB asks for a transfer, you want me to sign a ‘yes’?”</p><p>The fact that his senior doesn’t even need to wait for his reply is revealing in his own openness. It’s odd, really, that Yi Heon knows he’s been kept safe from being cut down by the intervention of all the seniors above him looking out for him.</p><p>And yet he can never repay them for their institutionalised kindness.</p><p>Still, his answer is ‘yes’, to a question that hasn’t even been asked. For the first time in a long while; the entirety of his academic career of learning economics, he’s found someone who agrees wholeheartedly with him.</p><p>Sang Min agrees somewhat, but he’s not that same in his rock-solid conviction. This afternoon, that answer he got from Director Heo Jae was that rock he has been searching for, for a long time.</p><p>And for the first time in another long while, he feels stable and assured enough to go back to Father’s house, to hold his head high in his economic beliefs.</p><p>The housekeeper auntie promises to cook his favourite soup; tells him in advance whether or not his father is in a good mood, looking out for him as she has always done.</p><p>It’s odd, of course, but the home was never the same after his mother died from an illness.</p><p>“The elder is having a guest over today for dinner, so perhaps you might want to come in a little earlier?” she suggests – and he promises to do so, leaving work on the dot for once.</p><p>His cubicle partner looks at him curiously, and he just smiles wryly, telling him that his Father was waiting at home.</p><p>No doubt, the rumour mill would be right at it, suggesting he was going for another marriage meeting.</p><p>His partner just nods, telling him, “See you tomorrow.”</p><p>-</p><p>Imagine Heo Jae’s great surprise when his senior asks him out to dinner. They haven’t been close for ten odd years, they fell out over, surprise – economic policy.</p><p>It’s such short notice, but he has no reason to decline. After all, Professor Chae is not someone any Korean economist would snub. That’s the dynamic of power.</p><p>(that’s how their worlds collided well and proper.)</p><p>The table that they’re seated across each other at is not too different from the table in Heo Jae’s office.</p><p>Chae Byung Hak looks curiously at them. “I was going to introduce you two, but it seems like you have already met.”</p><p>Yi Heon’s voice, calm and composed washes over the two of them, a far cry from the passionate rant against everything that Professor Chae stands for. “I have met Director Heo at work, Father.”</p><p>Heo Jae can’t help the arch of his eyebrows at the excessively formal way of address, but he replies his senior with a reed of surprise. “I was not aware that Officer Chae was your son, seonbae.”</p><p>The housekeeper auntie brings out a bubbling pot of plain tofu stew, which in observation, is the only non-spicy dish on the table.</p><p>Yi Heon murmurs his thanks where Professor Chae only smiles. Heo Jae aims for something in between by bowing his head.</p><p>The aged professor pushing his late 60s goes first, taking side dishes to his bowl of rice. “I’m not surprised you don’t know. He has never agreed with my economic policies.</p><p>Heo Jae watches as something flashes across the younger Chae’s eyes. Something like bitterness that calls out to his heart.</p><p>So he smiles, “Well, today you’re dining with the two of us who don’t agree with you then.”</p><p>It lightens the atmosphere somewhat and his senior laughs in reply. “So I am. Enough economics at the dining table. I called you to catch up with you. I didn’t expect that Yi Heon would come back for dinner as well.”</p><p>Yi Heon stiffens at that statement, perhaps unable to hear the professor’s mildly pleased edge of his voice.</p><p>Before the younger male can set his metal chopsticks down with a clatter, Heo Jae slides in again, with a soft, “I’m glad he was here then.”</p><p>There’s something fond, and even lonely in his senior’s eyes when their gazes meet before both of them turn to look at Yi Heon who only silently pokes at the spicy side dishes before going back to his stew.</p><p>If he didn’t know better, Heo Jae would have mistaken the slight redness to Yi Heon’s cheeks as a reaction to the spicy kimchi.</p><p>“I’m happy that you’re happy. In that case, you should come over more often.” His senior eats kimchi well; just like in his memories of university days.</p><p>“After all, I have missed your strong and point-by-point rebuttals to my university lectures.”</p><p>Heo Jae feels his stomach twist at the thought of those days where he would argue with Professor Chae till everyone in the lecture hall groaned.</p><p>“Still, Chae-kyusu,” his voice light-hearted but so heavy, “I wrote the best essays.” He dares says it and the elder male laughs, “Yes, I remember. My star student my greatest opponent. And no one knew if you were arguing for the sake of it, or truly because of it.”</p><p>He scoops some tofu for himself, his spoon clinking against Yi Heon’s in the stone pot.</p><p>“Seonbae, maybe you should go back to teaching. What are you doing these days?”</p><p>Surprisingly, it’s Yi Heon who answers. Despite the frosty appearance to their father-son relationship, they clearly understand what each other is thinking. “Father enjoys hiking. He’s also writing his next book.”</p><p>“Mhm, and in between that, there’s not much time left to teach. Perhaps I will do guest lectures at our old university.”</p><p>-</p><p>They walked out of the home to the road, their cars parked one behind the other.</p><p>Yi Heon turns to lock the gate and feels warm when he hears Director Heo stop walking to wait for him.</p><p>He stuffs his hands into his pockets as he turns around. They both open their mouths to speak, only to stop for the other. The cool night breeze that rushes between them allows them to turn their silence into a shared exhale. Both of them, pretending to avoid the awkwardness.</p><p>Yi Heon offers his senior a crooked smile, “See you tomorrow at work.”</p><p>Heo Jae inhales and exhales again, tightly, allowing his shoulder to pull in as he hums. “Alright. See you tomorrow.”</p><p>When Yi Heon pulls away from the curb, he takes a long glance into his rear-view mirror.</p><p>It’s one of the calmest and satisfied dinners he’s had in a long while, and he has one person, in particular, to thank for it.</p><p>-</p><p>In the IFB, Heo Jae already has one Level 4, a stereotypical civil servant who studied hard in a good university and got hired via alumnus connections. Na Joon Pyo is his pretty much deputy in all but name, though he won’t testify to like this colleague.</p><p>They were hired at the same time, but Na-samuguan lacks the kind of economic flair that would get him past the promotion committee when there are already enough Level 3s.</p><p>But it is also his favouritism speaking. Not because Yi Heon is Professor Chae’s son, or because they are from the same university – though those are good enough explanations for the PCB chief, but because he genuinely likes Yi Heon.</p><p>And because he wonders if it is true that Professor Chae is still trying to get Yi Heon married off as the rumour mill says.</p><p>So he has the Level 5 transferred to his department a year later during the staff shuffle and advises Na Joon Pyo to mentor him well now and in the future. He tells Na-samuguan just enough for the man to do his job well, and he intends to someday move up the ranks again.</p><p>His deputy fills the blanks on his own, he’s a little slow on the uptake, not much tact, but not terrible either.</p><p>He’s just disappointed that this arrangement still means he doesn’t get to see Yi Heon often just yet.</p><p>Nevertheless, they will have dinner again soon, and that’s enough for him.</p><p>-</p><p>It’s another environment he has to plug himself into again, being transferred. But he’s impossibly cheered by the knowledge that there’s someone who wants him on the virtue of his economic beliefs, rather than university connections.</p><p>Being wanted is a good feeling, either way.</p><p>Level 4 Na-samuguan is a nice enough mentor, though a little bit conservative and derisive to others. Again, the shroud of senior protection covers him and he’s grateful for something he can’t claim to deserve.</p><p>Someday, he tells himself, he will be the senior to protect others and the country.</p><p>Until then, he is content working here with someone who doesn’t dismiss his ideas, someone who makes him feel welcome and like the economy can be fixed.</p><p>Undeniably, he’s attracted, and for once he doesn’t mind that Father seems to like Heo Jae as well.</p><p>So, he actually goes for the department dinner when Na-samuguan calls for one to welcome him. Rather than turn it down because he’s never done well in social situations, and now here where he’ll be expected to talk rather than sit silently among the PCB members.</p><p>And he likes that half a smile on Director Heo’s face when he hums in affirmation when Na Joon Pyo asks him to join the department. “Sure, tabs on me. Let’s go for naengmyeon tonight.”</p><p>An out-of-the-ordinary dish for a late-night snack. Yi Heon won’t complain though, at least it’s not spicy like most of the other things late-night dinners often imply.</p><p>As awkward as the rest of toasts he has to accept are, Yi Heon is glad that he transferred. Though the naengmyeon is cold and it is the wrong season to be eating cold foods, it tastes good.</p><p>Everyone else is smashed by the time they’ve finished dinner, and those who went on for second and third drinking rounds have gone already. He helps the few others who are half asleep hail cabs and sends them off before returning to the shop.</p><p>He steps back into the shop and is caught off guard when he sees the director wiping down the table that everyone vacated.</p><p>The old granny proprietor is laughing with him as he waves off her concern. “Halmonim, we’re civil servants, so of course I can do this little bit for you.”</p><p>The lady is beaming widely, “Mama, I’m so glad that you came by to eat at my humble establishment. And you brought so many little ones with you.”</p><p>Heo Jae helps her stack the emptied bowls onto a tray, and Yi Heon walks forward to take the tray, sidling up and telling the granny that, “This little one can carry the tray.”</p><p>She cackles at his joke and pats him on the elbow, the highest she can reach comfortably, “Yes, yes, this little one eats well so he can carry the tray.” </p><p>Yi Heon makes a quiet promise in his heart to come back.</p><p>-</p><p>They walk back to the office in the dead of night, the cold wind again wrapping around them and making them gravitate towards each other.</p><p>Yi Heon’s broad and tall frame, though slightly hunched, blocks half the wind for him.</p><p>Heo Jae slows his steps to match his Level 5’s, walking side by side with their hands stuffed in their pockets.</p><p>After a couple of minutes, Yi Heon’s lips peek past his upturned coat collar to ask, “Gukjangnim, why did the old granny call you ‘mama’?”</p><p>Heo Jae can’t help but look at him, his uncontrollable fondness overflowing. “She was alive back when Korea still had a monarch. In that sense all civil servants to her are rulers, and she may never understand what democracy is. Even back when I was a fresh Level 9 officer, once I became her regular and she learnt my job, she addressed me as ‘mama’.”</p><p>His two emotions, fondness and what he could call love, mingling like their misting breaths in the autumn cold.</p><p>Yi Heon’s voice, a hint of respect and admiration that strokes his ego, “But you’re a people’s servant.”</p><p>Rather than the derision he encountered all these years for his desire to serve the people, again, it’s Yi Heon by his side and he’ll be damned if he lets the younger male go.</p><p>“That’s what civil servants, and economists especially, should be.”</p><p>They each take a step half-off from the parallel lines before them and bump shoulders – their eyes meet for a fraction of a moment before Heo Jae makes his decision.</p><p>His Level 5 is radiating heat from his cheeks, so it’s no surprise that his hand in his coat is warm as well.</p><p>“Gukjangnim…” half a question in Yi Heon’s voice.</p><p>The IFB director interlinks their fingers meaningfully, looking off to the side and smiling when he feels Yi Heon hold his hand back.</p><p>They’re close enough that he can hear the younger male’s breathing speed up into shallower puffs, Heo Jae squeezes his hand gently to reassure him.</p><p>-</p><p>Yi Heon doesn’t quite know how to characterise their relationship, though they are undoubtedly close. And he hesitates to let the thought come to mind: Perhaps they are lovers. It’s a nice kind of uncomfortable feeling.</p><p>It’s not all good of course, even if he knows that they’re attracted to one another, since the office can’t find out. He is also certain that it would raise issues and problems for the director.</p><p>But he feels warm and pleased to be around Heo Jae, and he knows he likes seeing the man every day.</p><p>He likes knowing that both of them don’t like spicy food, can hold alcohol well, like the quiet and the countless little things about them that align.</p><p>He also likes knowing where they diverge: Where Jae likes hiking while he prefers jogging, or how while they share the same broad economic vision, there are countless principle-based and perspective-based differences in how they would approach the same problem.</p><p>Mostly though, he likes how easily they can accommodate one another without sacrificing their own values.</p><p>He also likes that Heo Jae will hold his hand in a crowded elevator, though that’s a separate thing altogether.</p><p>-</p><p>From half-way, Heo Jae begins to keep the shutter furthest from his table rolled up. It’s not like Yi Heon’s table is in his line of sight that way, but he does it anyway since he’ll be able to see people approaching his door before they reach.</p><p>Sometimes he regrets that he can’t be open with the rest of the office that he’s serious about Yi Heon, but for the most part – barring maybe Na-samuguan, everyone does understand that Yi Heon is important to him.</p><p>Speaking of Na Joon Pyo though, he was promoted to a Level 3, but he’s still not much better in terms of reading situations.</p><p>Since he hasn’t moved though, and there is not much possibility of him moving anywhere, it’s the new Director Na who is reappointed in some other financial body or other. The PPS possibly, since he has many friends in the construction industry in particular. Kook Kyung Min already went there earlier owing to his connection to Daeryuk Group.</p><p>“Heo-gukjang?” comes Yi Heon’s voice at the door, one head in.</p><p>Heo Jae immediately comes back to attention, waving him in, “What is it?” The door closes behind him before the younger male steps towards him, hands behind his back.</p><p>Before he can stop himself, Heo Jae smiles teasingly, “I thought our Chae-samuguan was supposed to be focussed on his work.”</p><p>Yi Heon passes him a printed sheaf of papers, the report due, before he replies with a soft and fond, “I was supposed to, but then I saw our Heo-gukjangnim staring off into space, and I wondered what he was thinking.”</p><p>Heo Jae flips through the papers, answering that “It’s nothing much. I was just thinking about the chaebol connections to our financial system. Don’t worry, Yi Heon-ah. I remember that today we’re having dinner with your father.”</p><p>He doesn’t have to look up to know that Yi Heon has blushed. He laughs inwardly. His Level 4 is too good for him to deserve.</p><p>He tidies the papers after a quick screen and then looks up in time to catch the last vestiges of sunset pink dusting Yi Heon’s tanned cheek.</p><p>“This is good, but we still have to check on the housing situation in the US. That high rate of property buying you’ve been tracking looks pretty bad. I’ve already told our resident US expert to be careful with it, but it can still have knock-on effects on us. Anyway, we’ll call for a meeting soon. I’ll check with the FSC to see if they will send us someone.”</p><p>Yi Heon nods back to professionalism but Heo Jae likes it best when they’re having lively discussions regarding economics unrelated to work. After all, while it’s never good practice to, no one can help their personal opinions from impacting how they work.</p><p>Last ministry wide meeting, someone commented that the IFB’s policies were becoming far less speculative. And it’s true, they’re both conservatives in the sense that they don’t speculate far – they aren’t gamblers by nature.</p><p>Sometimes the fresher recruits will suggest something truly bold that they don’t mind trying, Yi Heon would give him disappointed eyes if he shut them down early.</p><p>The first barrier to entry is then the need for the newbie to make a paper to present. Some do, most don’t. Nevertheless, it’s the new hire’s first introduction to the way their department works, and eventually, they get only newbies willing to stick their head out for what they believe it.</p><p>It’s his secret pride, to know that his department is his own to create and protect. Even if Na Joon Pyo is a bit of a dolt, at least he’s moved him on to somewhere he can do better.</p><p>-</p><p><em>Another good family dinner.</em> The thought catches him off guard, as he looks across the table to his lover. His father already has some suspicions, but Yi Heon is not sure whether or not to say anything. He’s waiting for an opportunity to ask Jae, especially since Sang Min weaselled it out from him.</p><p>Today of all days is technically their anniversary; the third Friday after the beginning of autumn. A smile rises to his lips at this next thought, a memory of eating naengmyeon with the members of the IFB. Even Na-gukjang was still around then.</p><p>Father is giving him a curious look, and he asks after having a mouthful of spicy perilla leaf kimchi, “What has you in such high spirits?”</p><p>After a long time, he’s more at peace with the weight of his father’s expectations and reputation. Enough to be able to tell him simply that, “Thinking about a fond memory.”</p><p>Even Jae looks up, a look of inquiry on his face. Then he watches as his director blinks and frowns hard, thinking.</p><p>Before he can even think to stop him, Heo Jae has set his metal spoon down and leaned forward.</p><p>Immediately, father is paying close attention to what Heo Jae is about to say. “Seonbae, I have something to ask you.”</p><p>Yi Heon chokes on the rice in his mouth due to his sudden loss of composure and both of them are suddenly looking at him in concern.</p><p>Heo Jae has already stood instinctively, walking towards the kitchen and returning quickly with water.</p><p>His father’s eyes on the two of them, amused but warm, “What’s the fuss, Heo Jae, Yi Heon could have just drank some of the soup.”</p><p>“It’s spicy, seonbae,” comes his natural reply and Chae Byung Hak nods with a small smile on his face like they’re given up the game.</p><p>“That’s true. You wanted to ask me something?”</p><p>Yi Heon reaches out to tug on Jae’s sleeve to stall him or stop him – he’s no longer sure what his heart wants.</p><p>“Yes, in fact, I’d like to ask you for something.” Father hums, setting down his own spoon and wiping his lips with a kerchief. “Let’s hear it, there’s no reason to eat your words. But I am quite certain only Yi Heon can give it to you.”</p><p>And Yi Heon sits back in his seat, for the game has already been given up.</p><p>The lovers look at each other for a brief second and silently accede to one another. “Kyusunim, I’d like your blessing to be with Yi Heon.”</p><p>And his father only chuckles. “Even without it, both of you are happy together are you not?”</p><p>“Is that a yes?” Jae presses and Chae Byung Hak laughs in reply. “So you must have it in black and white. Yes, you have my blessing. I hope you all are not as obvious in the office. Hasn’t it been at least four years?”</p><p>It’s been seven, but that’s not important to them now, of course.</p><p>Father continues on, unfazed by their happiness. “If you move in with Heo Jae, don’t sell your apartment. The price of the apartment will continue rising with the American demand for property.”</p><p>He has a quick comeback for that, “But dad, the American market is a rapidly inflating bubble, liable to burst.”</p><p>His father simply sighs, “That’s why you’re a civil servant I suppose. No mind for money-making. Your Uncle Kwak says that the best time to sell is at the peak which he predicts will come next year.”</p><p>It’s a compliment, even if slightly backhanded. Nevertheless, their relationship has already walked a long road to recovery.</p><p>“Seonbae, do you mean Senior Kwak who works in America as a trader?” Father replies an affirmative, and it’s another of those places where his world and Jae’s overlaps, though in vastly different contexts.</p><p>This is technically insider information. But if they used it to protect their country, then no one could complain. To make a virtue of selfishness.</p><p>-</p><p>Both of them walk out together.</p><p>This autumn’s not as cold, but it’s a nice feeling to have Yi Heon’s hand in his, even if only for the half-minute it takes for them to reach Yi Heon’s car.</p><p>“I didn’t know you were so sentimental,” he blurts out before Yi Heon opens the car door. He watches as the younger male raises a hand to the back of his neck, slightly bashful.</p><p>Yi Heon smiles beautifully at him, eyes crinkling in the way that he loves, “How could I forget the day you became a part of my life?” His voice brims full of that emotion that they haven’t managed to say properly to each other yet.</p><p>Heo Jae apologises, “I’m sorry. I should have remembered.” Yi Heon only shakes his head before teasing, “Last year you brought me a shirt. This year you must be getting old.”</p><p>“I’ll buy you two to make up for it. Forgive me?” he asks gently, maybe allowing his voice to slip into a pleading tone.</p><p>His lover laughs, a clear sound in the night. “I like everything you give me. Just make sure you check your car boot and don’t get me another since I have a matching set in my apartment.”</p><p>He promises to do so, and indulges himself, resting his eye on Yi Heon with his tie loosened and top button undone.</p><p>He looks at peace, and happy, and if that doesn’t make Heo Jae happy, nothing else might.</p><p>“Alright, I will. You should get home and sleep soon. It’s late.” Yi Heon nods in reply, “You too. See you tomorrow at work.”</p><p>Heo Jae smiles, before the thought crosses his mind. He steps a little closer and brushes his lips across Yi Heon’s cheek. He wishes him softly as he steps back, “Happy anniversary, Yi Heon-ah.”</p><p>He enjoys watching as his cheeks flush, only to be caught off guard when Yi Heon moves forward to kiss him on the lips, murmuring against his lips that, “Jae-ah, you’re such a mean lover. And I love you.”</p><p>Their noses bump as Heo Jae’s arms come up to pull Yi Heon closer, but he’s still smiling.</p><p>-</p><p>Nevertheless, he still buys him the two shirts as promised. If there’s anything Heo Jae is as a lover it'd be devoted. And Yi Heon loves that about him too.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Last goodbye to this show and probably writing about this show. It was actually really good, but the murder was something really hanging over their heads.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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